Bull-wheel attachment



March 22 1927.

1,621,714 J. G. DYER ET AL BULL WHEEL ATTACHMENT Filed Feb. 12, 1926Patented Mar. 22, 1927.

unites stares JOSEEH G. DYER AND JOHN C. TH

BULL-"WHEEL Application filed February Our invention relates to anauxiliary drum attachment for bull wheels and is particularly adaptedfor use in oil field work where rods or pipe must be withdrawn from andagain lowered into the oil well.

In the operation of hoisting tubing or sucker rods, or even in drilling,it is customary to employ a bull wheel having a shaft or drum thereonupon which the cable is wound. This drum is of comparatively smalldiameter and when the bull wheel is employed in raising the pipe or rodsfrom the well, the speed which may be attained is limited, due to thesmall size of the drum on the bull Wheel and the speed of the engine.Much time is, therefore, lost. in hoisting, due to the tact that wherethe load is light, as when the hoisting operations have withdrawn aportion of the load from the well, the speed cannot be increased.

It is an object of our invention to provide an auxiliary drum attachmentfor the shaft of the bull wheel whereby the size of the drum may beincreased and the speed of operations be also increased sothat time maybe saved in the hoisting of the rods or pipe from the well.

t is desired that the auxiliary drum may be so constructed as to beeasily and quickly inserted in position upon the bull wheel whendesired, and quickly clan'iped in operative position thereon. It is alsodesired that a plurality of speeds may be attained through the use ofthe drum, and the attachment is, therefore, adapted to change lrom onespeed to the other, when desired, without diiliculty to the operator.

Further objects and advantages reside in the particular construction andarrangement of parts making up our attachment and will be set forth ingreater detail herein.

Referring to the drawing, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the auxiliarydrum attachment. Fig. 2 is an end View thereof, certain parts beingbroken away for greater clearness. Fig. 3 is a side elevation taken atright angles to the view shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4t is a front elevationof a bull wheel showing our attachment in position thereon. Fig. 5 is areduced view somewhat diagrammatic and illustrating the manner in whichthe attachment may be placed in position upon the bull wheel shaft whenit is desirable to use the attachment thereon. Like numerals ofreference designate like parts in all the views.

1,621,714 PATENT QFFEE.

GMAS, or emanation, wroliimd.

arraonnnna.

12, 1926; Serial No. 87.8.44.

Our device is simple in its construction,

and we contemplate that it may be made of metal and cast the particularshape desired although we do not wish to be confined to this particulartype of construction. When the drum is cast, however, it is contemplatedthat the interior will be cored out as much as possible to reduce theweight thereof and the walls of the drum are indicated in dotted linesto showthe manner in which the interior be hollowed out. This is not amaterial par-tot our invention, however, and it will not be necessary,therefore, to explain same in detail.

We contemplate forming an auxiliary drum which will be splitlongitudinally into two halves which may be indicated by the numerals 1and 2. These twov halves, when assembled, form drum having two stagesthereon, the first stage 3 being of small diameter and the outer stage 4being of a larger diameter. Radial flanges 5 and 6 at each end of theattachment are provided as is common with hoisting drums. Anintermediate radial flange 7 dividing the two stages of the drum is alsoprovided. The two flanges 5 and 7 are also formed with diagonal slotsSand 9 therein to provide a space for the passage of the cable on toeach of the drums, as will later more clearly appear.

The two longitudinal halves of the attachment are hinged together at theends by means of links 10. The said links are comparatively short,having the ends thereof perforated to receive pivot bolts 11 upon whichthey secured in the two end flanges 5 and 6 of the drum in such manneras to allow the halves of the drum to swing thereon in an obviousmanner.

On the opposite side of the drum, we provide clamping bolts 12. Saidbolts are piv- I oted at one end 13 within a slot in the part 2 ot' thedrum. The other end of the clamping bolt is threaded and provided with anut 14.- thercon. The flanges 5 and 6 in which these bolts are securedare slotted at 15 to allow the bolts to be received therein and a notch16 beyond the said slot is provided to receive the nut 14. The wall 17of the notch or recess 16 is inclined upwardly, as shown in F ig. 2, sothat when the nut 14 is clamped securely in osition, there will be notendency of the c amping bolts 15 to move outwardly away from theclamped position. The interior opening 18 through the drum is made ofsuch diameter as to fit upon the shaft of the bull wheel drum upon whichit is to be mounted.

In order to raise the drum attachment thus provided and seat it upon theshaft of the bull wheel drum, we contemplate employing a hoisting devicecomprising a plurality of chains or cables 19 having hooks in the lowerend thereof to engage within openings 20 formed in the central flange 7of the attachment. These openings are indicated in dotted lines in Figs.2 and 3. The openings are slightly above the center of the drum when thehinge 10 is placed uppermost and when the drum is thus raised it will beheld in open position indicated in Fig. 5. It may then be swung over thedrum of the bull wheel and lowered in place and quickly secured inposition.

In the operation of the device, the cable 21, shown in Fig. 4: as beingwound upon the shaft or drum 22 of the bull wheel, will be wound uponthe shaft of the bull wheel when the hoisting operation is initiated. Atthis time the load upon the cable will be heavy and the operationsomewhat slow, but as the pipe or rods are removed from the well and theload thereby gradually decreased, it will be desirable to speed up theoperation as the load is lightened. The cable will then be passedthrough the slot 8 in the flange 5 of the auxiliary drum and will bewound on said drum until the load is further decreased so that the speedmay be accelerated. lVhen this point is reached, the cable will bepassed through the slot 9 in the flange 7 on to the larger drum 4; sothat the speed of reeling up the cable will be further increased. Itwill, therefore, be obvious that the auxiliary attachment will act inthe nature of a gear change upon the engine. It will allow the use ofthe ordinary engine whose speed of operation is exceedingly limited andwill make it possible to reel up the cable and raise the load from thewell with increasing speed as the load is lightened. A large saving oftime in oil well operations may be thereby provided. It is found thatthe speed of operation may be increased by about 50% through the use ofthis attachment. WVhen the bull Wheel is used for ordinary operations,the drum may be quickly detached and removed from the bull wheel, andmay be placed at some convenient point upon the derrick platform out ofthe way until it is again desired. The further advantages of this devicewill be apparent to those skilled in the art.

hat we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A bull wheel attachment comprising an auxiliary drum having alongitudinal cylindrical opening to receive the drum of said bull wheel,said auxiliary drum being divided longitudinally into two sections,hinges connecting the sections at one side, detachable clamping devicesat the other side, and means whereby said attachment may be elevated inopen position. v

2. An attachment for the drum of a bull wheel comprising an auxiliarydrum having a central longitudinal opening to receive said bull wheeldrum, said auxiliary drum being longitudinally divided into twosections, links pivotally connecting said sections together at one side,and means to clamp said sections together at the other side.

An attachment for the drum of a bull wheel, comprising an auxiliary drumadapted to be clamped about the said bull wheel drum, said auxiliarydrum having a plurality of stages with radial flanges at the ends ofsaid stages, said flanges being slotted to allow the passage of a cabletherethrough whereby the cable may be wound on either stage of the drumto obtain changes in the speed of operation upon said cable.

4:. An attachment for the drum of a bull wheel comprising a multiplestage auxiliary drum divided longitudinally into sections adapted to beclamped about said bull wheel drum.

5. An attachment for the drum of a bull wheel comprising an auxiliarydrum divided longitudinally into sections hinged toget-her and adaptedto be clamped about said bull wheel drum.

In testimony whereof we hereunto afiix our signatures this 27th day ofJanuary, A. D. 1926.

JOSEPH G. DYER. JOHN C. THOMAS.

